Download by right clicking with "Save link as" (option or shift + mouse button on a Mac) and make that sure the file extensions do NOT get renamed to ".txt".
The first thing you need to check is that you have X11 installed. It is not always installed by default in the OS X installation. Look in Applications-Utilities for X11. If X11 is not there, install it from the optional install DVD/CD that came with your system.
Now we need to tell "gridview.sav" to open using the idlvm application:
Now when you double click "gridview.sav" it will fire up the idlvm application. Click "click to continue" in the idlvm window and Gridview will display.
Notes on file naming: Sometimes when you download files such as grid files from the web, Macs will place a ".txt" extension on the name. This may cause problems with Gridview since it is expecting to see files with ".grd", "sav" or ".dat" extensions. To remove the ".txt" extension, single click (highlight) the file and select "File->Get Info". Expand the "Name and Extension" section and delete the ".txt" portion of the name.
type: idl -vm
select gridview.sav
Responsible NASA official: Dr. Herbert Frey
Web Curator: Jim Roark (SSAI)
Email James.H.Roark@nasa.gov with comments or suggestions
Last modified on May 15, 2015